RIP dad

Perhaps you all thought that I was in the powder room for the last two weeks, but unfortunately, I wasn't. I had to go back to Iowa to see my dad, who died on April 21st.

While this is a very sad thing, and I miss him terribly, I am happy that his passing was fairly painless and quick. In January, they found he had a tumor on his lung. He went through the usual Chemo/Radiation thing with flying colors, and had just started the second round of treatment when he came down with Pneumonia and was dead in a week.

Dad hadn't smoked in thirty-five years, so the whole lung cancer thing was a big suprise. But as he said himself when my folks called to tell me the news, "we all gotta go sometime"

The people at the hospital in Council Bluffs (Mercy) were great. When the time came that we had to take him off the ventilator, they stayed there with us and made him as comfortable as possible for the brief time he stayed alive.

After he died, he had a big funeral at St. Peters, followed by a nice lunch. I saw all sorts of relatives I hadn't seen for years, who had all sorts of interesting stories.

Dad could be very difficult at times, and very obstinate. But he could also be a real peach of a guy. A liberal Democrat to the end, he couldn't stand Bush, which is always a good thing. He was also a great provider, a voracious reader, a fine attorney and a passable carpenter.

So if there is an afterlife, hopefully Dad is off somewhere with Aunt Eleanor, eating one of those fabulous sour cream and raisin pies.